Bettany: 'Legion' role was boyish fantasy'

Paul Bettany has said that he had a lot of fun on the set of upcoming movie Legion.

The actor plays an automatic weapon-wielding Archangel Michael in the fantasy horror, directed by Scott Stewart.

Bettany told Metro: "It was fun to give free rein to that boyish fantasy of jumping around doing flips and somersaults and pretending to be Clint Eastwood shooting the bad guys."

When asked if his abs on the promotional poster were actually his own, he added: "They are. I couldn't go and meet an angel so I went to the library and looked at paintings and they're all ripped. So I went to the gym for six months."

Of his changing hair color, he continued: "I'm involved in a social experiment to see if blonds have more fun the blonder they get.

"In Legion, I've got dark hair and when the posters came out I dyed my hair blond. I'd be walking the kids to school and they'd go, 'Look! It's you!'. I want to be less recognized."